The Chief Military Prosecutor's Office announced on February 18 that it suspected former Prime Minister Mykola Azarov of abusing his official position, with serious consequences, the Interfax Ukraine news agency reports.

"Based on the results of an official investigation initiated by the military prosecutor's office and conducted by a commission of the Cabinet of Ministers, it was established that Azarov, while serving as Prime Minister of Ukraine, illegally stopped an investigation by government interagency group that uncovered significant violations of the budget legislation in the operations of the Antonov state enterprise in the fall of 2012: funds generated from commercial use of the Ruslan aircraft remained in the accounts of two foreign companies and the representative of this state enterprise, which used the money at their own discretion,” Ukraine’s Prosecutor General's Office announced in a statement on Friday.

Because of these illegal actions by the suspect, as well as failure to take measures to reserve the corporate rights to dividends for the state, the state incurred losses in excess of UAH 37 million, as confirmed by evidence obtained during the investigation.

A court granted a petition by the prosecutor's office to remand Azarov in custody.

Based on the materials of the criminal proceedings and representations from the Chief Military Prosecutor's Office, the government has initiated transfer of management of the corporate rights of the abovementioned non-resident companies to the Cabinet of Ministers.